Inheritance
by PaBurke
Summary: Katniss meets a friend of her father's for the second time.


Inheritance

By PaBurke

Search Criteria that became a prompt: I was hoping that someone knew any SPN/HG crossovers, only with one difference. I'd prefer a crossover where Dean, Sam or Cas actually get to meet Katniss (or Finnick, but preferably Katniss). Katniss is so much like Dean, that I can only imagine her as Dean's descendant. My muse grabbed hold and said, "YES!"

Spoilers: All Three books of Hunger Games and I'm deviating from Supernatural at Season 3-ish before Castiel went stupid.

Disclaimers: None of the characters belong to me. This is an advertisement for Hunger Games: go, buy, read, now.

Katniss and Peeta had taken their two children to the Meadow again. It was their family's favorite spot, green and lush and on the edge of the forest. The children didn't know that they played on a graveyard of those long dead from the firebombing of District 12. They only knew that they were safe here. There were no Peacekeepers to chase them off and if Katniss felt so inclined, she would detour into the forest with her bow and shoot their dinner. No one disturbed them here. They were safe, Katniss made sure of that. She never went to the Meadow without her bow. Even though there were few human predators that would dare to attack two of the winners of the last two Hunger Games ever played (and hopefully the last Hunger Games ever to be played), wild animals still existed in the forest and Katniss would never be easy prey.

For all these reasons, Katniss reaction was instinctive when she saw her daughter (the elder of the two) push her brother behind her in a very protective gesture. She drew her bow and had an arrow pointed at the stranger's heart. She had no idea how she could have been so distracted that she hadn't noticed his approach.

The man did not react in any normal manner. Most would apologize or put their hands up in surrender. As the Mockingjay and The Girl On Fire, her aim with a bow was legendary and lethal. This man's eyes crinkled slightly and Katniss feared that he was laughing at her.

Peeta had reacted just as quickly. He called the children to himself and kept all three of them out of Katniss's way.

"Katniss Everdeen," the stranger said solemnly. It was no surprise that he knew her name. He knew how to find them here, but most of District 12 did. He was no one that Katniss knew. By eyeing his clothes, Katniss couldn't even guess as to his home District. He was as clean as the Capital residents used to be. His jacket was too long and too expensive to be from any of the Districts, but the color was drab beige. Anything scavenged from the Capital would be a riot of colors and furs. The clothes were well made and showed little wear. Katniss would have guessed that he was wearing his best clothes to introduce himself to the Mockingjay but his dark tie was loose and off-center.

Katniss glanced away from the stranger for a second to confirm the placement of her family. Her eyes were back on the motionless stranger before they absorbed the wide-eyed stares of her children.

"Who is he, Mommy?" her daughter asked.

And suddenly, Katniss's perspective changed and she was the wide-eyed child asking her white-faced, bow-wielding father the very same question about the very same stranger who looked the very same as he had that day in the forest so long ago. Now she understood the true reason for her father's shock decades ago. At the time, she had just assumed that any other person they met in the forest could tattle on them to the Peacekeepers.

Katniss found herself echoing her father's words. "He's a friend of my father's. Castiel."

The crinkle of Castiel's eyes became more pronounced. "It is good to see you again, Katniss."

"Why are you here?" Peeta asked and he managed to make his tone conversational instead of confrontational.

Castiel turned to face the children. Her children. "I always introduce myself to the line and lineage of Dean."

Katniss vaguely remembered Castiel saying that to her decades ago, but she couldn't remember any relative named 'Dean.' She vaguely wondered if Castiel aged and if he didn't, than how many generations ago had Dean lived? She also remembered the rest of the conversation. "You promised to help me if I ever needed it. Where were you," she accused him of dereliction of duty.

"I promised to come when summoned, Katniss. I was never summoned," he told her kindly. The manner was reminiscent of Peeta's way with her.

"You didn't know I was in the Hunger Games?"

"I was fulfilling my duties elsewhere."

Katniss fumed. She wanted to rail at this stranger, but she wouldn't, not in front of her children.

"Katniss," Castiel said. "You are of the lineage of Dean Winchester, both of blood and character. Your actions concerning the Hunger Games are reminiscent of the Righteous Man, himself. You love your sister to your own detriment. You master your environment and your weapons. You protect the weak with your intelligence and strength and you never truly surrender. You are alive today because of who you are. You bring honor to your family." Castiel paused and looked sad.

"I had forgotten the fragileness of a child's memories. This time, I hope to make more of an impression." He turned to the children again and addressed them. "I am Castiel, a friend of your mother and her family before her. Should you ever be trapped in a dire circumstance, summon me and I will come."

Her children stared up at Castiel in fear and awe. Peeta kept a reassuring hand on both of their shoulders. He was trying to figure out Castiel. "Would you like to join us for dinner?" he invited.

Katniss fought a smile. Peeta, always willing to make a friend.

"I cannot, Peeta Malark," said Castiel. He stepped back and with the sound of a flock of birds taking flight, vanished before their eyes.

Katniss stopped breathing and even Peeta froze in fear. She had forgotten the brief meeting with her father's 'friend.' She was pretty sure Castiel had disappeared in the exact same manner.

"Real or not real?" Peeta whispered.

Katniss and their children chorused, "Real."

It was too fantastical to be anything else.


End file.
